A. J. Cropley

Current conceptualizations of children's thinking tend to be unneccesarily narrow, and to focus on what might be called convergent thinking. As a result, invention and innovation are often underemphasized in schools. This text aims to encourage a broad understanding of intellect, and attempts to help teachers to recognize and foster more varied forms of intellectual activity in their students. It offers a review of recent theory on creativity, conceptualizing this as a matter of getting ideas, trying the new, branching out and the like, rather than of producing artistic or scientific products. It discusses the factors in the classroom which block this more divergent kind of thinking and suggests practical ways through which teachers can promote bolder and more innovative intellectual activity in their students. This involves not merely cognitive factors (thinking, remembering, reasoning) but also motivation (courage and willingness), personality (openness to the new, self-confidence), and social factors (nonconformity, ability to communicate ideas). The text is applied in orientation, contains a large number of examples and case studies, and aims at providing practicing teachers with guidelines.

Fostering Creativity

More Ways Than One

Lifelong Education: A Psychological Analysis presents an analysis of some of the major theoretical assumptions of lifelong education within the context of its psychological basis. Some of the main features of school curriculum are also examined from the point of view of lifelong education. Comprised of eight chapters, this volume begins with an overview of modern education and its role in addressing the challenge of change, as well as lifelong education's psychological assumptions the implications of psychology for a lifelong education-oriented system. The discussion then turns to the arguments that have been put forward to support the concept of lifelong education; how psychological knowledge can, and indeed should, be applied to the analysis of lifelong education in order to test whether the principle has any legitimacy; and psychological functioning throughout life. The role of intelligence and cognitive functioning in lifelong education are also considered, along with the concept of socio-affective development and how schooling might be modified in order to enable it to serve the goals of lifelong education. The book concludes with a critical evaluation of lifelong education, with emphasis on the psychological issues. This monograph is intended for educational psychologists, scholars, instructors, and students.

A Psychological Analysis

Lifelong Education

Christopher Knapper

Lifelong Learning in Higher Education examines how universities and colleges can prepare their students for lifelong learning - not just by means of continuing education and specialized courses for adults, but also through mainstream teaching programmes geared to traditional students. Fully revised and published in paperback for the first time, the third edition of this well-known book blends theory with practice and traces the much misunderstood concept of lifelong learning back to its roots. The authors provide a critical overview of the way higher education institutions encourage students to become effective lifelong and life-wide learners. The book draws from a wide range of international sources, with a particular emphasis on educational goals, teaching methods, and organizational structures that foster lifelong learning. This established and authoritative book will be essential reading for academics and educators alike, as well as educational managers, policy makers and indeed anyone with an interest in learning and the future of education.

Lifelong Learning in Higher Education

David Cropley

"Innovation is universally recognized as a key components of first world economies that is vital for continued prosperity. Innovation is driven by the generation of effective noveltyin other words, creativity. However, both in higher education and also in business and industry, insufficient effort is being made to encourage and develop creativity, with negative consequences for innovation. This is partly due to inadequate understanding of what creativity is and how it can be fostered. This book draws on complementary views of creativity and innovationas a business process and as a social-psychological modelto create a more detailed and more highly differentiated model which is capable of serving as a practical foundation for diagnosing, analyzing, optimizing and fostering creativity and innovation in a variety of organizational settings. It is built around a large number of case studies and down-to-earth examples, and offers many concrete suggestions for fostering what the authors call functional creativity."--Publisher's website.

A Diagnostic Approach for Higher Education and Organizations

Creativity

Looks at creativity in education and learning, examining in detail the roles of thinking, personality, motivation and social factors in creativity. Provides readers at all levels guidelines for fostering creativity, with an international and historical sweep.

A. J. Cropley

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